


Home for lost souls

by SketchyDyslexic



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Big Brother W. D. Gaster, F/M, Financial Issues, Good W. D. Gaster, Harems, Multi, Multiple Relationships, Multiple Soulmates, Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader-Interactive, Reverse Harem, Slightly Inspired by multiple other works, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Swapfell Papyrus (Undertale), Swapfell Sans (Undertale), The Machine - Freeform, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), green soul - Freeform, reader has kindness soul
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:21:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29164146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SketchyDyslexic/pseuds/SketchyDyslexic
Summary: Sans was so in his head that the resets would start back again, he didn't want to even try. Papyrus put in work to convince Sans that he needed to come to the surface with him, and not continue staying in the underground. Sans agreed to pick out a home with his brother, and began packing his things.With only a week left, Sans decided to try pulling his older brother back with the machine one last time, only to have to watch it sputter and stop.Sans gave up and packed his stuff, ready and moving out to stay with undyne until their new home was bought.His life and a few others really went out of whack because of the machines malfunction, with his sudden influx of brothers and the soulmate bonds that were slowly making themselfs known.Even after settling the chaos, shit still hits the fan every time he gets done untangling one mess.And the woman that is helping his strange family isn't making anything easier by making things easier!
Relationships: Papyrus (Horrortale)/Reader, Papyrus (Swapfell)/Reader, Papyrus (Underswap)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus (underfell)/reader, Sans (Horrortale)/Reader, Sans (Swapfell)/Reader, Sans (Underfell)/Reader, Sans (Underswap)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 16
Kudos: 64





	1. CH 0. intro and info

**Update schedule** : at least one chapter every 7-10 day. Depending on how much time I have and how busy I am determines the chapter length, if it's split into parts, and how often plot development chapter vs normal or bonus chapters are posted. I will still post once a day on my tumblr

**Description** : I really just threw shit to the wind with planning and started writing after getting the basic outline. This is inspired by any and all fic’s I've ever read. Mainly Oolongteacup’s “The house on lane 66” (this is my new religion and has been for the past year and some.)

RaccoonSinQueen’s “six selections, one maid”

Absurdmagewrites’s “short king” and “the good boy”

Tyrant_tortoise’s “skeleton squatters and the landlady”

Coco_finny’s “panic room”

Llama_goddess’s “not the best way to go about life” (I actually couldn't finish reading the last chapters of this one- it made my physical heart and my soul ache. Good shit)

And many others I might have forgot to list. 

**Bonus chapters:** special extras for your entertainment, they can range from behind the scenes to things you didn't see happen during the main plot development chapters. They can be chapters that affect the main story or ones that don't affect it at all.

**Normal plot chapters** :these are the chapters that set the pace on how fast the story moves along! I'm using the 3 problems and an ending plot line system. 

**Date per boy chapter** : there will be at least one special plot chapter for each of the boys. Otherwise relationship developments will be sprinkled through the other chapters.

Sneak peaks, art, previews, etc on my Tumblr: 

any visuals will be posted on my Tumblr, like the floorplan, what the boys look like if I do little sketches, and anything else.

I post daily on my Tumblr, writing, art, or just simple replies to asks, so I will be posting the chapters in progress before the finalized product comes out on AO3, and any questions or asks about this can be asked there! I find that the anon option helps make people feel more comfortable interacting, but I really do love any and all interaction.

Polls for the plot development will be posted on Tumblr and at the end of the chapter it applies too, if no one participates in the poll’s and feedback posts, I won't keep trying to get audience input!

Big thank you to everyone who took the Uquiz for making this- The results are soon to be posted to my Tumblr!

  
here are the floor plans and link to my tumblr if the images won’t work:

my tumblr- [sketchydyslexic](https://sketcheydyslexic.tumblr.com/)   
  


  
  
Actual story details:

Description.

Sans was so in his head that the resets would start back again, he didn't want to even try. Papyrus put in work to convince Sans that he needed to come to the surface with him, and not continue staying in the underground. Sans agreed to pick out a home with his brother, and began packing his things. 

With only a week left, he decided to try pulling his older brother back with the machine one last time, only to have to watch it sputter and stop. 

Sans gave up and packed his stuff, ready and moving out to stay with undyne until their new home was bought. 

His life and a few others really went out of whack because of the machines malfunction, with his sudden influx of brothers and the soulmate bonds that were slowly making themselfs known.

Even after settling the chaos, shit still hits the fan every time he gets done untangling one mess. 

And the woman that is helping his strange family isn't making anything easier by making things easier!


	2. Ch 1. New, new home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are slowly introduced to your clients, the skeletons.

After the barrier broke, he and Papyrus worked on getting their citizenship. It’s was a fairly simple process but it took a lot of work. After getting the legal documents that said they were monster citizens, sans returned to the underground, while his brother stuck with Alphys and Undyne.

His brother made many good cases about why Sans should join him and the others that stayed on the surface, Papyrus wanted to stay in a home in new home with his brother, but Sans was admit that it wouldn’t really matter and they would all be forced underground again. Papyrus didn’t really understand the meaning of it when he first heard it, thinking Sans was just going on about how humans would start another race war. 

“BROTHER, I KNOW SOME HUMANS ARE NOT AS OPEN TO MONSTERS COMING TO THE SURFACE BUT THERE ARE MANY HUMANS HOW SUPPORT OUR RECOLONIZING!” Papyrus was truly getting fed up with his excuses, something that did not normally bother him. “Please sans… PLEASE THINK ABOUT IT SANS, HOME CANT REALLY BE HOME IF I DON’T HAVE YOU WITH ME.” Sans felt his soul ache, he knew why Papyrus was upset, and it was his fault. the negative feelings he was causing his own brother made him think a little more about how selfish he was being, staying so far away from his family working on the machine.

“Okay… Okay paps, give me a week to gather my stuff, and house hunt then…” He thought around his he should tell his brother about the machine and how it actually worked, papyrus knew of the machine but not everything about it. “me and someone new will join you on the surface, we’re we belong.” Papyrus was beaming as he pulled Sans in for the tightest hug papyrus has given him yet- it made his panic of the resets calm.

“IM SO GLAD! THANK YOU, SANS!” papyrus sat him down, and gathered his stuff before heading to the door “I HAVE TO PACK MY STUFF, FROM UNDYNES, AS WELL! AND I AM EXCITED TO MEET THE NEW FRIEND!” waving, he walked out the door.

And just like that, Papyrus had convinced him to do the one thing he was adamant about not doing-going to the surface just to get attached the sent right back to the hellish cycle. 

Over the next few days, Sans didn’t sleep. He put every ounce of effort he had into the machine, and it wore on him- but it was almost finished, he just had to run the diagnostics and heck all the variables again.

After 4 days of nonstop work, he gave in and went to bed at 11 in the morning, to awake at 8 at night. His sleep was much needed and didn’t really feel like enough, but he made due- he always felt like that. 

He was back in his room, working on the machine again. I just finished checking to make sure everything was in place before he hooked up the last few tubes and connected the finally wires.

Sans just stared at the buttons it began to glow, he was about to fail miserably and die or his older brother was about to come home- and frankly, Sans just wasn’t sure what he would say if he saw his long lost older brother again. His older brother was a father figure to him, and to not have anyone there for him or believe him after Wingdings was gone, it hurt him severely. 

Sans didn’t want to think about it, he knew he would start sobbing like a weak child if he saw him again.

Slamming a few phalanges down on the button, he quickly retreated and grabbed on something stable as the machine started whirring and the matter around it started to bend and shift- then smoke. 

Smoke was not good, smoke was probably bad- really really bad. 

As soon as the smoke started, the machine stopped and powered down.

The damn thing didn't even give him time to panic.

Sans sighed and got up, looking at the machine that refused to work. shaking his skull before stepping around the machine to his mini desk at the corner of his room. He needed to look in to getting an apartment is house for pap and him on their surface.

He found a few and printed out some papers giving directions reviews and notes about the properties. He also contacted the reintegration office to get a counselor. 

That was something about the surface that annoyed him, everything was so different and complex. Not all monsters got to have a good reintegration officer because the only good ones were the ones who got paid. The one's who were volunteered to help the monster community could be nice, but most were stressed from being overworked or just assholes. 

But he made sure to get an appointment with one that has has experience, the office lady on the other end of the phone really bragged up their “best employee” who has experience with ‘very important people in the monster community’. Sans really didn't care so he didn't ask her to elaborate. He just made sure to select the one who seemed like she wouldn't be over the top fake but still nice and helpful, her name was a little different to hear at first since he was used to monster names, but it was a nice change of pace.

He gathered his boxes and moved everything to the living room, and put his travel bag to the side. 

Taking a last glance around his soon to be old room, he stared at the broke machine in the middle. He had to at least hide it or take it with him. He huffed, and went to grab another box for the hunk of junk still sitting in his room.

Just as he heaved it up and dropped it in the box, it whirred and bent the box at weird angles, smoke fried in the air around him as gears clinking and springs snapping made him wish he didn't grump about not having time to panic the first time.

Maybe just smoke wasn't so bad after all.

He watches as the machine sputtered and kicked out the cardboard of what used to be a box, then quickly turned his body- latching onto the door frame as the machine let out a screeching white noise, and started to pull all the matter from around the room into the blinding black void.

Then yelling, and crashes sounder over the loud white noise, and everything stilled. Other than groaning and complaints of headaches. When sans turned back to look at the damage and intruders, he discovered himself- multiple of himselfs and his brother.

“Oh... Oh no” was all that sans could manage as the skeletons started about why their bones were burning in certain spots, some lifting their shirts or pant legs to observe the dark black curves getting seared into their bones. 

Then the situation caught up with the unintentionally invited guests, and they scanned the room and each other... Then, the machine blew, flinging parts across the room.

That's when the real panic set in, and things got chaotic.

“So... We get to go to the surface?” Swapfell papyrus was more that overjoyed, then his swapfell brother cut it

“Listen well, mongrel, you still need to keep a low profile. _For obvious reasons_.” he cut into his brothers joy with far too honest awareness.

Sans was exhausted, after explaining everything he knew, and answering the other skeletons questions. There were so many of them, the scary looking two, the edgy looking two, the reversed version of him and his own brother, and a orderly mix of the edgy swap brothers. He looked to his own brother, who he sent an emergency text to.

“WELL- ITS A GOOD THING WE HAVENT BOUGHT THE HOUSE YET! WE WOULD'NT HAVE HAD ENOUGH ROOM FOR ALL OF OUR NEW BROTHERS” 

sans froze, he didn't think about that- they all couldn't stay here if him and pap left... They needed secondary names so things didn't get confusing, and now they also needed to change the ideals for their new home. 

“Okay, everybody listen to me.” sans made his voice a little louder to catch the others attention “you all need secondary names if your going to stay on the surface with us. Everyone already knows me and pap as our names, so we need names for you guys to have your own identity. Here's what I'm thinking-”

He pointed to the edgy version of him “you can be... Red sound good?”

“I don’ care” red grumbled in agreement.

Then he turned to Red’s papyrus, he looked at sans expectantly “uh. Edge?” he wasn't sure what name to pick for him, he hasn't spoken once since the words were seared onto his body, and the reason why was explained to him and the others.

A court nod was all sans got.

“Ok, you two.” he looked between the swapped copies of him and his brother. “Uh, star and orange?”

“NO NO! I WANT TO BE A COLOR!”

“And I don't want to be a color.”

“Alright, Blue and....”

“STRETCH! BECAUSE YOU'RE LAZY AND TAKE UP THE WHOLE COUCH!” 

“Sure, good thinking, bro” the sans now dubbed ‘blue’ came up with a suitable name for stretch, sans had a feeling the papyrus version of him was going to make naming him a difficult game anyway.

He looked to the scarier brothers “er. I've got nothing. Any ideas?

“...axe.” ‘axe’ looked to his brother with his single lit socket “butch...”

The spooky papyrus looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole, he has been hiding closely behind his brother ‘axe’ the whole time.

“Sounds good to me” sans wasn't about the question anything

“Now you two?” he pondered a second before the sans of the two cut through his thoughts.

“We already have alternate names.” 

“Yep, mutt, nice to meet ya.” he grinned, then tilted his head at his brother, who looked like he didn't want to reveal his name to the others “that's Milord.”

‘Mutt’s’ eyes sharpened a bit when stretch opened his mouth to question them. A warning of sorts for him to keep his jaw shut.

“Well. Mutt, Milord, axe, butch, stretch, blue, edge, and red. There are ten of us total. So we will need a larger house...” sans pondered out loud before turning to papyrus “I've already contacted the integration office, best lady the whole department has is going to help us for the next month. Today she is going to help us buy a house.”

“GREAT! IM SURE SHE WILL BE VERY HELPFUL.” papyrus was still as enthusiastic as ever now that sans had agreed to move to the surface, and they were bringing their new brothers!

“What makes her the best?” milord cut in

Sans gave him a small look before answering “i didn't look far into it, receptionists who set up the appointment said she worked with integrating MVM’s”

Axe gave sans a weird stare “...Mvm’s?..”

they all were still underground when they were pulled through, sans found that out after talking to them a bit “‘most valuable monster’s’ Same thing with VIM’s, that means ‘Very important Monster’ “ 

They'll nodded at the new information. 

“The appointment is in 4 hours. And it will take all 3 to get out of the underground without teleporting. We need to start leaving in the next 30 minutes. make sure you're ready, I need to talk with paps real quick” sans excused him and his brother to his bedroom.

“IM SO GLAD WE COULD GET ALL YOUR PAPERS! even if sans lied....” papers glared at his brother. 

“Hey, don't be like that pap. It was the fastest way to get them registered as citizens. It took us weeks to get our papers, remember? We have one hour to get to the reintegration office, not weeks.”

“I can sure you, it will be fine. We are going to get a Reintegration officer, correct? We can just schedule weekly appointments to get us caught up on the surface culture.”

“YEAH, MILORD IS RIGHT! WE ARE FAST LEARNERS” Blue quickly agreed with milord, even before mutt could.

“Im glad you're confident and all, but this surface stuff is really tricky. Buying things is different, you can't sell things at most shops, certain places are racist or try to take advantage of our lack of knowledge about the surface to rip us off and use us.” sans grumbled a list of shitty things about the surface as the other stared at him, wide-eyed

“OH HUSH, SANS! THERE ARENT MANY HUMANS THAT AWFUL. THERE ARE PLENTY OF NICE ONES TOO! LIKE MS... WHAT IS HER NAME? OUR INTEGRATION LADY?”

“Oh. Her name is Y/n “

Papyrus turned a shade of orange And stayed quiet, looking off to the side, to hide his face from the nine other skeletons 

“Sum’ wrong, creampuff?” red looked at him odd

Papyrus ignored the nickname “NO! I AM COMPLETELY FINE!” before his once short strides to match the group, sped up.

“Wow. He's not good at lying is he?” stretch grinned at sans, sans grinned back weakly as he pulled out his phone to call the reintegration therapist, giving her a heads up for the other brothers joining.

A knock bounced around the walls in your large office- Things really were nice when you worked hard for so long. 

“Ms. L/n? It's your 11Am appointment” the receptionist announced before letting join the two skeletons, the taller of the two caught your attention.

“Papyrus! It's so nice to see you again!” you hummed happily, taking his hand that he held out for you

“y...YOU TOO MS. Y/n!” you let go of his hand to hold it out for the brother.

“Sans, right? It's an honor to meet you!” it was a joy to meet your friends brother, he talked about him so fondly.

Sans turned bright blue. You were his soulmate, huh? 

“Likewise, how do you know my bro?”

His soul froze. His first words to you... We're going to be ‘how do you know my brother’ when yours to him were so nice? Damn it, sans pull it together.

You didn't even blink at his words “me and papy go to the same café in the mornings. He runs his laps and I run to not be late for work. we run together sometimes” you laughed lightly, recalling happy times.

“Im surprised you can keep up” he laughed a little back as papyrus looked embarrassed. 

“I had a feeling he slowed down a little for me” you winked at them both before turning to your desk grabbing a file of papers them offering them a seat at the large meeting table as you sat.

“OUR OTHER BROTHERS IN THE HALL, IF YOU STILL DONT MIND THEM JOINING OF COURSE?”

Sans started to sweat. all of them in a room together with his newfound soulmate makes him nervous. 

“Sure papyrus, I'll go get them.” You hummed happily, getting back up and going to the hall.

You entered the waiting Hall and spotted the skeletons, you wave back to the excited blue scarved skeleton as you approached.

“HI, MS. Y/N!” 

you smiled “blue, right? Its lovely to meet you.” he froze. And stared at you with wide eyes. This was normal for skeletons you guessed, it's happened with every one you've meet so far.

“Ms. Y/n, I heard you were the best they have?” your smile turned shy “I've heard good things about you too, captain.” you shot back, playing cheeky to hide your bashfulness. He bristled before going as still as a statue, lavender making it's way to his face.

“Holder of hearts, arntcha, pretty lady?” his wink and nicknames put you off at first but you went along with it “whatever you want me to be, handsome” you winked back at him, and he too, froze.

“if you gentlemen want to join us in my office, your brothers are waiting.” you addressed them all.

They stood to follow you back to your office, we're you will sat, and began talking about how the home buying process would be for such a large family. Explaining was easy for you to go through because of your own large home.

“Now, I have a few different home in the area you selected, if you all are ready to leave, I'll have a company car pull around front for us?”

“SOUNDS GOOD MS. Y/N!” paprus called after looking at all his brothers, who had their gaze still set on you.

You smiled at the brother's, and started dialing the valet’s office number.

“Hello, Y/n speaking. I need the largest vehicle we have in the lot. Eleven total. Thank you” you hung up and gathered your purse

“Okay, boys, the valet will be around front to pick us up by the time we walk down. Make sure you have everything you came with!”

“OKAY, MS. Y/N” blue happily called out as they all murmured an agreement.

Walking at the head of the group, you chatted idly with papyrus and sans about the property's and rental homes you found that suited them.

The brothers behind you were obviously acting different from normal, you could tell by the questioning diapers and concerned glances being shot at the other.

You stopped at the front desk to talk to the receptionist, telling her what was going on, before walking towards the door.

Your hand didn't even touch the door before the skeleton who, sans told you, was called axe Opened it for you .

“.after you...” he grinned at you, and one of his brothers

“What a gentleman, thank you, axe.” you grinned back at him, your brain not even bothering to comment that he froze up too. 

You heard a few of the guys snarling lightly, and gave them a raised eyebrowed look.

A long seated car was parked at the front door. Not quite a limo, but a mini-limo. It wasn't fancy, it was just practical for the classier paying customers.

The drive slid open the door and allowed you all to step inside. Some sat further away, others sat right next to you. Sans and papyrus we're set to your right, Axe the shyer brother sat clinging next to him, Milord and mutt took the happy middle ground, blue and stretch just before them, while red and edge sat at the furthest seats.

You opened your purse and took out the 4 neatly folded papers again, handing them to the brothers on your right. “You can pass these around and see what house you want to look at first.”

Sans looked through them and handed two back to you, folding the other two. “This one is good to look at first. The other two are a bit much for us.” you nodded at him.

“I get it, I'm thankful my home isn't too flashy, given it size. My great-grandfather designed my home, and I was fortunate enough to inherit it.”

“WHEN I FIRST MET HER I THOUGHT SHE MUST HAVE HAD A LOT OF MONEY!”

You laughed lightly, and shook your head “you know I wish I did, papy”

“YES! IT WAS ODD TO WATCH HER LEAVE SUCH A BIG HOUSE THEN BUY A SMALL COFFEE INSTEAD OF HER NORMAL LARGE BECAUSE OF A... BUDGET, THEY CALL IT?” he informed everyone in the limo of you financial standings, it made you kind of embarrassed, but having got to know papyrus as well as you do, you weren't offended.

“Yes, that's right papyrus! A budget is a set amount of money you allow yourself to spend freely, to make room for bills and necessary purchases you make monthly.” you praised, and he beamed proudly.

A few of the brothers looked upset by this. Even Sans was included.

“I though you said talking about someone's budget or spending habits was a faux pas?” sans took his own step up with human terms.

Your eyes caught the other drinking back into their seats, and slowly caught on to their game.

“It's one of the topics you should avoid- like someone's weight, hight, race or a woman's age.” making sure you small group was listening, you did what your job description required- thought them human culture. “Sometimes people are insecure or offended by the remarks made about these things, so it's best to avoid unless they bring it up first.” it was also the easiest way to derail the brotherly competition that might have ensued.

“IM SORRY MS. Y/N, I DIDNT MEAN TO TOUCH A SENSITIVE TOPIC!” he looked genuinely disgruntled about offending you.

“You meant no harm, papy, it's fine. It's just my job to remind you of such slip ups.” you gave him a small smile to show it was really alright, hands fiddling with your purse strap.

Mutt finial spoke up. “Do we all get nicknames, pretty lady?” a few shot him looks, that he grinned back at.

“I suppose I could give you all nicknames...that's not very professional of me though, handsome.” 

“I don't know, papy and captain seem to have settled just fine with em. I think handsome suits me” he posed a little as you snickered. you liked him, he was fun.

“Im happy to hear that you are setting in well for your first time on the surface.” your smile couldn't be contained as a few of the brothers you talked to before had started telling you about what all they saw on their way here.

You didn't bother waiting for the driver to open the door, stepping out and holding the door for the line of brothers.

You stood in front of a large, luxurious home, not to extra, but it looked the part for big bucks. 

“A salesman should be around here somewhere.” you informed, knocking on the door with the brass handle.

A tall, skinny man, who could very easily pass as the food critique from ratatouille, but blond, answered the door, his smile straining when he saw your group was a very bad sign.

“I assume you are the family here to look at the manor?” he addressed the group of men, then looked at you “ _and you are?_ ” You did not like his vibes. This was going to mess up the first appointment with your new client's if you didn't play this right.

“Oh, I'm just here to oversee the purchase, don't pay any mind to me” your usually warm smile was now sat into a for show polite one. The off-brand Pixar villain hummed at you, before starting his tour and sales pitch for the house. You were catching the find he was throwing here and there, and how he was talking things up to put on a show for your clients. You wouldn't interfere unless one of them asked, or you could catch him in a blatantly told a full lie.

You spent an hour or so listening in and following around with the group. You could feel the man getting irritated at your looming. You didn't care, this was you job.

“The final price, furnished with top quality, unused furniture will be 1.3 million.” you felt sick hearing him say that. Every lie and bent truth so far, you've counted enough to fill both hands. So you crossed your arms, a silent signal that something wasn't right. Sans looked to you “what do you think, Y/n?”

Now that permission was granted, you were about to reign hell upon this lying sack of shit.

“I think this man is a liar and a fraud.

This house is not as modern as they come, those water pipes are shiny but the same kind used in 1870. the ac unit hasn't been replaced in 30 years, and it said so right on the tag. Both of these will need to be replaced soon.” You started glaring pointedly at the sales man.

“The furniture is clearly used, just lightly refurbished they have a must to them and the wood is scratched but polished.” You point at the legs of the kitchen table, the put weight on it to rock it back and forth on the shaking table legs

“The ceiling on the left side of the main entry hall was dipped in and cracked near the corner, showing that there was a leak and it’s still not fixed.” You allow your clients to look at the water damage themselves “He also calculated the tax wrong right in front of you, this home isn’t worth what he says it is, said so right on the files that this was a home worth at a starting point of 530k- furnished and not counting the damages.” Sans looked perturbed at the information. It was out of line for you as a business professional, but you said it anyway; “Sir if you are going to outright lie to my clients, then try to jack the price up for no reason, I must ask you consider if your lies are worth losing your job for.” You turned to sans. “Sans, you can negotiate a price with him or I can find another home, if you want me to. I am sorry that I didn't look into this in person beforehand.”

“I think it would be best to find another lot.” he grumbled. You noticed red looked especially angry about the deceit. 

You fell behind the group, and walked along side him

“What’re ya’ follow’n me fer?” his accent made you feel funny

“You looked kinda upset, what's wrong red-hot?”you joked a bit, trying to ease his negative feelings over the failed attempt at buying them a home. - and again, the skeleton froze up, and stared at you wide-eyed.

“Surely My nicknaming skills or my joking skills aren't that bad?” you flushed a little feeling embarrassed from his heated stare. He started again, and grinned 

“Ya’ can call me red-hot, but only if I can call ya’ m’ sweetheart.” he's quipped back, you couldn't help but smile, you half expected him to be grouchy with you since he was so distant before. “I think that's a fair deal”

He held open the car door for you, and you thanked him, taking your previous seat again.

“Do you know any hotels we can stay the night at?” sans asked as you sat down.

“Well. Finding a hotel that will house all ten of you at the same place will be difficult. I thought paps said you were bunking at undynes till you bought a place?”

Sans went to answer but paprus cut him off. “I WAS, BUT MY OTHER BROTHERS WERE STAYING AT HOME IN THE UNDERGROUND! UNDYNE AND ALPHYS WOULD'NT HAVE ENOUGH ROOM FOR ALL OF MY BROTHERS!”

you hummed thoughtfully and pulled out your phone looking up hotels in the area. “So far, hotels are looking full because of the human Holliday coming up.”

Axe took his turn to talk “what.. Human Holliday..?” 

you beamed “its one of my favorites, It's called Thanksgiving! To sum it up, some ‘important people’ had a big feast a long ass time ago, skip A bunch of boring bullshit history, then you have the present-day thanksgiving- it's a day when you and your family get together to have a large dinner feast together, it's a day to celebrate what all your thankful for and spend time with loved ones!” you explained “My family always uses my house without even asking first, but this year, they are going to my aunts in another part of the country. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that hot mess again this year.” They all blinked at you, leaning in while you rambled about the human Holliday.

“... Can we... have.... The thanks giving...at your house?...”

You blinked at axe “huh?”

Sans turned pale “axe! You can't just ask to-” paprus cut him off excitedly

“YES! GOOD IDEA, OTHER BROTHER! MS Y/N!” he turned in his seat and encased your hand in his mittened ones “WILL YOU ALLOW US TO STAY IN YOUR HOME WHILE WE LOOK FOR OUR OWN? I WOULD BE HONORED TO HELP YOU COOK FOR THE THANKS GIVING”

You started to sweat. wow, was it getting hot in here?

Milord bristled “papyrus you cannot just invite yourself-” blue cut him off

“I WOULD LOVE TO HELP YOU COOK THE THANKS GIVING TOO!” red and mutt both had shit-eating grins, nodding slightly in agreement with blue. You felt that pressure building on your shoulders again, like it had not long before, but something in your soul told you the brothers honestly didn't have anywhere else to go. 

“Im sure I could give you my best demonstration of thanksgiving.” you smiled weakly, but as warm as you could. Knocking twice on the black glass separating the driver from the passengers, you readied yourself. “Please take us to my personal home, thank you” the man gave you a gruff okay then rolled the window back up.

“If we're going to have Thanksgiving together tomorrow, you all can ask all the questions you want about it.” you offered, and the few most talkative started assaulting your knowledge of Thanksgiving with their questions as your driver sped you and your clients to your home for the night.

You didn’t even think about the other current occupant in your home, as you went back to feeling anxious about something while chatting with your clients.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post at least one reading chapter so you guys have something to look forward to.  
>  Feel free to check out my daily posts on tumblr! Sketchydyslexic is the name.  
> Constructive criticism is welcome!   
> I haven’t wrote a full pice in a really long time, so I’m a little rusty, but I promise it gets better!


	3. ch2. mi casa, su casa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you didnt expect to have your clients using your home as an inn for the next few days... but now that its been finalized- youre going to do your damned best , and let your hospitality skills shine!  
> oh yeah, and some other important stuff happens, not anything worth mentioning to anyone who might care... right?

The car pulled into your long driveway, silently stopping and letting you escort yourself out of the vehicle. While Axe and Red snarled lightly at each other, eyelights flickering in A silent argument- Blue took his chance to hold the door for you and his brothers.

the large house had an older looking exterior and it was clearly over A hundred years since it was first built- A three-story cottage with A newer addition; a double wide garage. The home was worn but well kept, and that was something you prided yourself on. After being handed down such an important asset for ones life, you put A lot of your time into keeping the old house up to standard. You felt like your great-grandfathers, father would be proud of you.

You gave the guys A moment to assess the new surroundings. A heavy pressure weighed on your chest. you ignored it, trying to ease the feeling that they were judging your home by reminding your anxiety they were locked underground for thousands of years with nothing new to explore. “welcome to my humble abode. Did you guys want me to just show you to the rooms, or A whole tour?” jumping right to the point so you could hurry inside. that pressure building up in your chest from their open appraising of your home you worked hard to upkeep… it suddenly made you feel like your hardest work wasn’t good enough.

“OH, I WOULD LIKE A TOUR OF YOUR HOME, HUMAN!” Blue was promptly corrected by Papyrus about his labeling of your race. you could hardly be upset about something so simple- not with how genuine in his excitement to view your home was.

“its ok, you still do that too, silly bones” he sputtered A bit. giving up on his unintelligible defenses, turning his head away while fiddling with his mittens. So you continued, talking to the group as a whole “I don’t mind what you guys call me, I know you don’t mean any harm!” you watched as they separated A bit too look around, save for the few bothers who were standing alongside you.

You did A sidelong sweep at the ones who stayed in the little group, you noticed Axe had his brother Butch clinging behind him.

it wasn’t easy not to notice them first- axe was far larger than the others, not huge-huge, but still notably larger, with a large jagged hole in the top of his skull, paired with a singular large red eyelight. Butch wasn’t much taller, but he was much thinner than the others, making his cowering behind his shorter brother kind of impressive.

Milord was standing off to the side behind you- keeping A close eye on Mutt. Milord held a highly… orderly? It was an authoritative and demanding one for sure. Maybe militarian fit best?... aura to him, he was most definitely living up to his name and title rank- so far as you could tell. He didn’t interact much with you one-on-one, but you could tell he liked to keep his rowdy brothers in line. Mutt on the other hand, he cowered like Butch did, but it rather seemed like looming instead of cowering when he did it- Milord was… smaller that most of his brothers. (- in a no offence meant way, milord.) milord wasn’t puny in anyway, he stood the same height as blue, in fact, you might have thought they were twins if you couldn’t see the obvious differences…

now that you thought about it. They all seemed like they could be twins or… five-tuplets?

... anyway. Mutt often steered attention away from himself if he could and seemed uncomfortable in most social situations. He could and would brag up a storm with confidence though- he was very easy going for someone who looked like he was going to have an anxiety attack on the spot if someone spoke to him- maybe it was just the face he made? Or he might just have a severe case of introvertedness. They both seemed to favor purples, must be to match their magic.

Sans was constantly flickering his eyes to Papyrus, looking A tad bored. These two were definitely the ones who had surface experience, they were far from ‘normal’ but they were the ones who could easily blend in if they wanted two. Sans was a taller medium height compared to the smaller of the brothers. Papyrus still wore his ‘battle body’ from time to time, that still never ceases to put a smile on your face, but he wears more human/surface-monster styled clothing now- and from the looks of it, he convinced the others to try some too.

Blue snatched Stretch to look at the small flower garden you had alongside the porch. They were an odd pair, more like Sans and Papyrus. They were brighter, more off centered with their magic color, but the energy was traded off.

Maybe sans and Stretch were papas-boys while Papyrus and Blue were mommas-boys? No, you had a feeling the dad would be the one who was hyperactive, while mom was chill and laidback- so swap that.

You had no idea where Red and Edge had gone, you had A strangely strong knowing that they are around the other side. They were more emo/punk/grungecore if you’ve ever scene it, kind of asshole-ish, but they were nice to you so…

“thanks, kid” you returned his relaxed grin. Then Milord cleared his throat oddly before finally speeking up.

“YES-…, for your assistance and your lending us your home.” He looked off to the side after holding A few seconds of eye contact.

The whole lot of the brothers seemed A bit reserved but also open? It confused you A bit, the psychology major part of your brain was bouncing around ideas about them based off what you already learned.

Your grin grew A bit, you had A feeling that was the best he could muster to express himself. You knew some of them, especially Milord, was hiding something from you. You would just have to do your best to make them comfortable around you and your home. it looks like you’ve made up your mind- if you can become such good friends with papyrus, you were certain you could with his family. Your soul swelled with A feeling you couldn’t quite place your finger on.

“glad to assist, captain” you gave him A light wink and A small salute, enjoying the way his mouth twitched up A little more and his eyelights brightened. “hey guys, were going to head in now!” you raised your voice just slightly, to catch their attention. You knew monster senses were stronger than your human ones, so they would catch wind of your small yell- even half way across they yard.

They all made their way up the stairs to your L shaped porch, waiting patiently as you unlocked the door and welcoming them inside. You couldn’t stop the warm homey feeling from overpowering your anxiety, your soul had A warm feeling of familiarity- like you had practiced this before they came.

With the small boost of confidence, You hopped right into the tour- trying to distract yourself from your racing thoughts. “straight ahead is the kitchen and dining room, help yourself if you get hungry or thirsty! ill be making dinner after the tour is over…any request?” Axe and Butch seemed to perk up the most at the idea of dinner, Red and Mutt looked slyly at each other when you mentioned it was A free territory for snacking- the others looked amongst themselves “I know monsters require monster food. I have some monster ingredients from the potluck new-new-home’s school fundraiser hosted. As long as you all don’t mind if I use human ingredients too?” the few that had that look guest have when they know its impolite to decline A host’s offering faded into relief.

“sounds delicious sweetheart” Red lolled his red tongue over his golden tooth before it quickly disappeared.

“yeah, sounds good kid,” Sans gave A pointed look to his edgier twin, covering it by sending you A wink.

Red looked perplexed, electing to ignore Sans.

Pap and Blue were talking excitedly amongst themselves about how they can watch how you cook human foods. It didn’t take long for Edge cut through their chatter “HUMAN, I WISH TO WATCH YOU WORK IN THE KITCHEN” You were A little relived when he finally said something, some of the brothers seemed like they didn’t like being in your presence, and your mind was formulating ideas of how you must’ve offended them already with your blabbering. If it weren’t for how new to the surface he was- the way he worded it would have irked you just a bit. ‘He should have learned not to put labels on sexes like that!’ your mind would scream. But he didn’t learn that- none of these skeletons know anything of the ways humans abuse and use things like money, gender, race, sexuality and so much more to belittle others- they haven’t even settled into a home on the surface to start setting up integration therapist appointments.

“I would like it if you joined me in the kitchen, Edge!” you knew he would give away some sign of discomfort being tossed in ‘with you, in the kitchen’ if he meant it in a ‘stay in the kitchen were you belong’ thing. A lot of humans would use his backhandedness as a way to report him for harassment- a one way ticket straight to the underground until he passed some class on ‘human mannerisms’. You were lost in your thoughts as you eyed Red A little when he grimaced. you hadn’t left A mess somewhere- had you? You scoped put the area he was in, looking for the offense. To busy checking for something, with your mind still bustling in top gear, that might have upset your client, you missed how this tall skeleton man too- locked up.

“WE WOULD LIKE TO JOIN IN WATCHING HOW YOU MAKE HUMAN FOODS TOO, HUMAN FRIEND!” Papyrus announced as Blue nodded excitedly beside him, lightly patting his gloved hands together. This time Sans and Stretch had their own look of distaste, your heart leapt to your throat. you didn’t like that look- on your clients or otherwise.

“I’m sure it will be A learning experience! Back to the tour- ” you slid off your shoes and placed them on to the side, not caring that certain skeletons stared at your mismatched socks, at least they were the same brand this time, just different colors. You slid on your house slippers, A gift from your auntie last Christmas.

“on the left we have the living room. The tv has cable, Disney plus, funimation and Netflix. My gaming stations are open to play on, just please make your own account.” You paused and let them wander around- looking at your memory shelf that held your figurines, special items and picture of you with friends and family. “It’s complete with my work office to the side- please don’t go in there in mess around with my papers.” You added, pointing to the closed door- not catching that you were about to call out A skeleton who was just about to explore said office before you already said it.

“you got it, boss lady” Mutt quipped as he slid his hand away from the office’s door handle. You had to fight back the sudden urge to cringe at yourself or curl into A ball in the corner- Mutt looked no different, but at least he was better at hiding it.

“I’m sorry, Mutt, I didn’t mean to call you out like that” you gave A shy grin before trying to cover your mistake. “there is A study on the top floor, that any of you are free to use if you need an office for something!” feeling like you recovered as smoothly as you could, you waved A bit- signaling to your group that you were moving on with the tour as you walked down the steps.

“here we have the stairs. Go down and you’ll find the basement. my personal part of the house,” explaining while two-stepping down the steps.

You hopped off to the side to let your train of followers enter the main room of your basement. “my room is over there- if you ever need something and I’m not on the main floor, ill be locked up in there working on stuff.” You watched as the group nodded and made small conversation amongst themselves or offhanded comments. “basement common-room; complete with dining table, tv, and fridge for storing food that doesn’t go in the kitchen fridge, and so I can be lazy with my snacks on the same floor.”

“ahmen”

You snickered; you didn’t know who said that, but you were glad they agreed “then the laundry room is behind this curtain. I do laundry on Saturday, feel free to toss yours down here too.” You pulled the curtain back and allowed them to peek into the laundry room. You were sure they could figure out the machines, if not you would be just across the floor to ask for help.

Allowing them to wander around the floor A bit before waving as you walked up the steps again, letting them follow you to the second floor.

“this is the guest hall! There are more rooms upstairs in the study hall, but this floor has all bedrooms- save for the restroom at the end of the hall” pointing at the door right ahead of you as you shifted to the side of the hall. “you can pick out your rooms now if you want to stay on this floor, all the rooms are basically the same anyway” you watched as Papyrus walked into the first room on your left, Milord opening the first door to your right, Sans checking out the one beside Papyrus, Edge taking the one beside Milord, Blue and Stretch taking the last rooms across from each other in the hall- Stretch by Sans and Blue by Edge.

You turned back to Red, Butch, Axe, and Mutt “so, ready to check out your guy’s hall?” you offered another conversation starter, leading the smaller group up to the last floor.

You can’t keep up with all of them at once in A ‘conversation’- you would have to watch some them get cut off by another one of the brothers. and really? You just felt bad about starting the conversation when that happened. You knew very well the pain of never being heard, even when you tried to put in the effort.

“say, m’ lady, you seemed to give in pretty fast to letting us stay with you- you still charging us by the hour?” you couldn’t help it when your hand flew to your face and with A huffed snort- failed at hiding your laughter. Mutt looked proud of himself, the others eyelights flickered oddly at you.

“well…I wish I had an excuse. I guess I’m just so used to letting A friend or someone stay over, that it doesn’t really feel so strange to me. The faults of having A home with A bunch of rooms, is that people like to try and room with you for free. It’s especially difficult to clean when you live alone though-“ your sentence was forcibly cut off as the intrusive though slapped you out of your ignorance. “er- well anyway. Papyrus isn’t A supper close friend, but he’s always made my mornings better. He and his family can room with me until you guys get your own place. That kinda is my job too, heh…” you rubbed your arm A bit, remembering that if you had invested more time into personally looking into the house, instead of working to edit other files you had due next week, your friend and his family would already have A good home.

“here is the study, A little library, office supplies and computer. Rooms are all along the right side, one on the left at the end, and again- bathroom at the far end of the hall. Have at it, guys” you quickly got the words out, allowing the brothers to walk to their temporary rooms. You noted that Mutt took the only room on the left, while Red took the one across from him. Axe and Butch both walked into the first bedroom on the right. You wondered why one of them didn’t take the other empty room- but shut down the question with your own logic. They had been together ever second of today, they were likely A package deal in everything. Sometimes you were thankful for your over analyzing therapist brain

You whipped out your phone as you made your way down the stair to the kitchen, pure panic was rising in you. ‘ _hey, I’ll be back at the end of the month. That house better be spotless_.’ That’s all your phone had to offer from your last voicemail. The sudden urge to clean the house again the fourth time that week flooded over you. Your shaking hands wrung their way around your other hands’ fingers, trying to ground yourself to start preparing for dinner.

You tied the apron around your waist, eyeing the ingredients out on the countertop, the pack of water sausages, frozen monster bread buns, and human seasonings, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, plus A few condiments.

Burgers were the easiest, quickest thing you know how to make with monster water sausage. You could make meatballs, but you don’t have any pasta- not monster pasta anyway. You also considered meatball subs, since they would also have been easier- but you had sandwitch buns, not sub buns.

You put on A large pot of water, waiting for it to boil as you watched for the brothers to join you. Blue ran down the hall, you didn’t need to see to know it was him on his way, judging by how you saw and heard him walk earlier.

You shook your head- no. you didn’t need to think that way right now.

Then Edge stepped out of nowhere into the kitchen, the faint air of magic and the darkest red-orange wisps fading as he adjusted his top. You couldn’t do anything other than blinked dumbly as you whipped your head back the other way, eyes wide with fascination. He didn’t notice that you saw him, so you figured it would be best to ignore it. you couldn’t help but feel you had seen such magic before. Did other monsters teleport like that?

Blue and Papyrus made their way past the foyer and greeted you in the kitchen, snapping your thoughts away from trying to figure out what the hell Edge just did.

“hi guys, I’m making burgers, it will be the easiest for me to make with so many people.” You put all your focus into perfecting dinner for your guests, but the way one of the more silent brothers had just appeared into your kitchen out with nothing but the blackened mist and A faint whiff of magic still had theories running through the back of your mind. “do you guys want to help or just watch?”

“I WOULD LIKE TO HELP!”

“YEAH, ME TOO” Blue and Papyrus were still bursting with the same enthusiasm they had when they got here, you assumed Papyrus was A morning person from how uppity he was during your races to get breakfast from your favorite café before you are late for work- but it seems like some of the brothers just refuse to run out of energy.

turning to Edge who still stood with his unwelcoming posture, his arms folded securely across his chest. “what about you, Edge?” he gave you an odd look. Your heart squeezed, not in the cute way either- the crippling self-doubt way. You really needed to learn what their skeleton expressions meant; you just haven’t gotten ahold of the que’s they give off for what’s running through their heads. At least blue and papyrus were open books for you to understand.

“I suppose if I want something edible, I’m going to have to aid you.” His voice sounded like A mean-girl eyeroll and you felt offence set in your gut, but your chest tightened at the thought that you had done something to make him not like you. Your brain ran through everything you had been trained for with monster culture, you couldn’t find anything.

Then…Your remembrance of graduating top of your class and being known for how easily you grasped the information your professors threw at you, gave you A small encouragement. That’s right, you weren’t just any human, you were A good-natured, smart, loving human who is lending out your home to friend’s family in need. Your grandma would be proud of you for your hospitality and caring nature for others.

“as far as I know about mixing human and monster ingredients, we have to blanche the watersausage in boiling water before letting them cool in an ice bath, so we can pound them into A burger texture!” you had made watersausage tons of times, memorizing the ways your monster friends had assisted you so far.

“ILL GET THE WATER BOILING, DEAR FRIEND” you snatched A large enough pot out of the cupboards, passing it to papyrus.

“now we have to let the bread dough for the buns rise. It would have been easier to buy some that were already baked, but I wasn’t exactly expecting to have burgers anytime soon.” Rambling as you got A large baking sheet, opening the frozen buns. You kept rambling as you sorted them onto the tray, buttering the tops. “okay, so I’ll have to run down to the mailbox while these are raising, after ten minutes of them raising in the preheating oven, the water sausage should be ready for its ice bath. The baking temperature for the buns will be 450 Fahrenheit, and it will only take about fifteen for them to crisp up nice and golden-brown.” The fridge had the perfect room on the bottom shelf for the large ice bowl, thankfully.

You let the guys talk amongst themselves after confirming they understood what all they needed to do. You excused yourself from the kitchen, going to grab the mail before the sun settled.

The door whined silently as you shut it. There was the shy boy who hid behind, who you assumed was, one of the older brothers. You would have to ask later. He was inspecting the rocking chair that sat on your porch, pushing it A little, before poking the puffy cushions.

“hiya, sweetie. You feeling better?” You offered A gentle smile, as he visibly flinched and spun to face you. “sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you. I just wanted to let you know dinner will be done in about an hour. Im going to check the mail before I run back inside to help the other guys.” You were vaguely aware of your rambling, and another presence. you waited A second for him to ditch the owl-eyed stare, but it remained, flickering all over your shoulder and to the area all around you.

“P-…”

You tiled your head. ‘pah’. What on earth did ‘pah’ mean?

“…p-pretty- !”

And just like that, he was gone, leaving you just as red as his zip-up. “im?!- Me?...pretty, huh?... what A sweetie.” You hustled down the driveway, hoping the cold nip of late eve air would cure your face of embarrassment.

You shuffled through the stack of papers, nothing new. Bills, bills, notices, spam, some random persons scam mail. You welcomed the warm air of your home, heat sweeping away the icy chill that nipped at your blood flushed cheeks. You heard pans and things crashing from the kitchen. Oh lord.

“…!...” both blue and papyrus quit trying to put out the fire around the watersausage pan when you entered the room. Edge was cackling from his far end seat at the table.

“oh my gosh, guys!?” You made haste to put out the fire yourself. “are you boys okay?” your nerves were on fire despite that the physical flames were extinguished, violently trembling hands checking over the two who were practically dancing with the flames before you came in. it was not only Edge had fallen silent, as you played Santa- checking them over twice before stepping away. placing A hand to your temple, feeling A little lightheaded. You would feel awful if your friends gotten hurt.

No. not your friends- your clients. Clients. Yes, you just worked for them nothing else. Other than papyrus, he was your buddy.

With the fire finally out, watersausages chillin’ in the ice bath, and buns pulled out to cool, you could finally set out the toppings for the ‘build your own burger’ set-up you had in mind. “alrighty guys! Fire solved, now we need to ground up the water sausage, while some of us set up the toppings. Who wants to do what?”

After A little bickering and entitlement, you all settled on edge and pap grounding and forming the patties while you and blue rummaged your cupboards for things to stack your burgers with.

You and blue managed to gather pickles, every condiment in your fridge, cheese, chips, and set them up orderly. By the time this was done, the other two had completed grounding the burgers, leaving you to fold in the seasoning.

“thank you all so much for the help, I couldn’t have done it this well without you guys.” Your thankful grin must have been infectious because they returned it, tenfold. Except for edge, he grunted and grinned cockily.

Setting up the pan, oiling it while you bustled around busily. It would take A decent amount of time to cook this many, if you did it with A normal skillet- but you had A secret weapon, A gift from your friend Grillby after you helped him set up his restaurant on the surface. It was A large paella pan that covered the entire top of your gas stove. You could easily cook all of them on this bad boy in no time at all.

You chat with the boy’s A little while you flipped and moved around the burgers, turning the vent on high. You had to giggle A bit when watching Papyrus try to explain Inside voices- he told you they had practiced before they came to the surface, but some of them still couldn’t do it properly. it was odd to hear them practice their inside voice. If anything, you felt odd hearing their ‘inside voice’. It didn’t take Edge more than ten minutes to get fed up with that topic. He started going on about how he wasn’t going to change the way he spoke to appease other people, it was his voice, and if they didn’t like it, they could suck it up. And he honestly made A fair point on that one. Blue mad a very sweet comment about it being the way their individual souls spoke- that made you happy, so you worded your complete agreement to Blue- You should never feel bad for who you are.

Even if that could be considered hypocritical of you- it was human to have self-doubts. No one was fully and truly 100% self-confident… maybe ‘human’ wasn’t quite proper anymore, but you’d figure something to substitute it out with.

“you guys can go grab your brothers or take A seat and I’ll get them, if you like?” the offer lingered A second, as you slid the plate of burgers to the middle of dining table. You walked back and forth A few times, carrying stacks of plates, and the other add-ons to the ‘build-your-burger’ deal- failing to notice a few different magic’s carrying some plates secretly along side you.

they shook their heads, “WE CAN GET OUR BROTHERS, MISS Y/N!” Blue looked to Edge, who rolled his eyelights, before returning to their conversation. You didn’t notice edge disappear until you heard him _yelling_ from upstairs after he vanished. The other two didn’t seem fazed, so you assumed it was normal.

It wasn’t long before Skeleton’s found their way from your closet to your dining room, ready to chow down.

Ha. That’s not funny- anyway.

Your house probably hasn’t been this crowded in A single room, even during the holidays, since the old days were your great-great-great-grandparents had like 17 kids- that’s why they had built the house in the first place. You felt nervous as they all filed into the kitchen, taking seats by their brothers. Relief was heavy on you, that you already were seated with Papyrus on your right; edge on your left; and blue in front of you. You sat nearest to the wall, at one head of the table- so blue was actually the furthest from you, but it was comforting being able to be in the eyesight of one of the brothers you knew A little more. The rest were still A mystery to you, leaving them unfamiliar and slightly uncomfortable territory for you to tread on. Other than Sans of course, he was Papyrus’s brother, you knew him A bit and felt pretty chill around him- but even he wasn’t familiar to you.

You had A sudden realization about your decision to let the skeleton brothers stay in your home… they were strangers. All save for one- who wasn’t even A close friend- just A good pal.

Fuck.

Why did you think this was A good idea again? Where had you lost your grip on the harshness of reality?

…

When blue and papyrus’s eyelight’s could be mistaken for galaxies of hopeful stars- when the quiet Axe and his silent brother Butch looked so interested in having A holiday with you, as A friendly family- when you lost tract of the fact that they were strangers, and clients; not true friends like your spirit desperately cried for- when you meet each of them, and felt A small spark along your skin, and your heart leaped A bit, as they seemed to relax A bit after you personally interacted with them? Almost like they gave you A little more trust than they would others… the way you caught them interacting with others, compared to you- in made you feel like they really did trust you to help them figure their way out in the new world.

Ah, Y/n. silly silly Y/n, you knew already that you lost your grip on the cruel truth of your reality when you first met the bubbly skeleton to your right. You can recall the way you almost cried when he called you ‘HUMAN FRIEND’ so sweetly, after you tripped up, spooked by an athletically paced skeleton when- literally- running late to work. You can still feel the way he snatched you up in A hugging hold before your nose could be slammed into the dirty pavement. You called him your hero, after he ran top speed, carrying you to work. He made it there A few minutes before you had to clock in, you gave him your personal number, and you guys stopped by your favorite café often on your morning runs after that. You even almost convinced yourself that they were dates, once upon A time. the thought almost made you laugh. Papyrus lived with his girlfriends, Alphys and Undyne- and you knew that much before your silly little brain got the idea that the morning hangouts with your ‘workout’ buddy felt an awful lot like dates.

That reminds you- why was papyrus staying here if he already had A place to stay, with his girlfriends? Huh. Maybe he wanted to keep an eye on his brothers or wanted you to feel more comfortable. What A sweetheart.

You smiled shyly as you did A once over of the table. You had to pull out A few more chairs from the garage so that there were enough for the guys. The table was A little crowded, but it felt A lot more natural and comfortable than you first expected it to. Not like when your family came over- the atmosphere in the room was homely and light like you wanted it to be for your guest.

You noted that the guy’s definitely come in pairs or have A favorite. Blue and Stretch were sat closely together, talking about something you couldn’t hear from your side of the table. Edge and Red were sat beside each other, Red almost animalistically tearing into his burger- but maybe that was just because of his sharklike teeth- while edge reprimanded him on his table manners. Axe and Butch were sitting so close they were almost touching, they observed the way the rest of the others ate, and how Edge was berating Red for ‘eating like A pig’- they were slow to start eating, despite the clearly visible like of red drool leaking slightly out of Axe’s mouth, and butch’s shaking. but after the first carful bite, they seemed to try and make the way they shoved half of the burger down their face, graceful. Sans took the seat by papyrus, leaning back in the chair, making himself comfy as he held the stare of A watchdog over the group, while monching on his own burger- huffing when A pickle slid out from the bun and plopped onto his plate midbite- that made you giggle A bit. Mutt and Milord sat beside each other, mutt was picking at Milord for using A knife and fork to eat his burger- much like how edge was.

Papyrus quickly struck up conversation with you, hopping into the same routine you had built when visiting the café together. “HOW ARE THINGS GOING WITH MS.TORIEL AND ASGORE, Y/N?” you giggled remembering the way they bickered like A true old married couple when picking out what flowers to use in the front garden.

“surprisingly good! we spent only 2 hours in Home Depot while they fought over what the garden should look like, unlike last time when we spent 8 hours in ikea.” You grinned as he ‘Nyhehe’d. you loved that laugh, after starting out most of your days hearing it, it was just natural to you.

“AT LEAST THEY HAD BEDS” you snorted,

“yeah- but I would have preferred to not spend enough time in ikea that I could build A bed myself, take A 4 hour nap, AND have time to unbuild then put it away.”

“NYEHEH! I THINK YOU DID THE BEST WITH ALPHYS AND UNDYNE’S SETTLEMENT!” you had to agree with him on that one, they were fun to work for, you still hang out with them sometimes.

“yeah, Im still the Nintendo switch queen by the way. I kicked ass at any game you guys threw at me!” the memory pumped you up A bit

“PLAYING AS BOWSER IS NOT FAIR, Y/N! ANYONE COULD WIN WITH HIM, EVEN SANS-” he stuck A mittened thumb out towards his brother, wo was snoring with ketchup all over his chin “AND IT DOSENT EVEN COUNT WHEN HE PLAYS, BECAUSE HE IS NAPPING!” Papyrus was really trying to defend his repetitive loss.

“I kicked your tailbone with shy-guy, Yoshi, and Kirby too” you quipped back

“ANYONE CAN WIN WITH THAT PINK SQUISH-BALL! I WOULD FEEL BAD IF I KNOCKED SHY GUY INTO THE GALAXY, AND SAME WITH YOSHI- IT IS JUST GREEN ALPHYS!” you were howling as his eyes bugged out A bit. He eventually gave up the aggravated front, laughing with you.

“You know the queen, darlin’?” it was only after the question that the whole table really quieted down. some staring, some didn’t even look up. Your breath caught in your throat, you didn’t like all the attention on you, especially when it felt like you just admitted to killing someone’s mother.

“OF COURSE, Y/N IS FAIRLY GOOD FRIENDS WITH A LOT OF MONSTERS! ESPECIALLY THE ROYAL FAMILY, SHE HELPS MS. TORIEL AND THE CHILDREN WITH FUNDRAISERS AT HER SCHOOL, AND WAS THE ONE WHO INTEGRATED THE ROYAL FAMILY” reminder to set papyrus up as your personal spokes-person. you truly were glad papyrus explained for you, because you would have stuttered the whole way through it. You were sweating in your seat.

“THAT’S SO COOL MS.Y/N, SANS DIDN’T TELL US YOU HELPED INTEGRATE MONSTER KIND AS A WHOLE!” Blue looked at sans. Sans shifted A bit in his seat. You couldn’t tell if blue meant to put the spotlight on sans, but you really couldn’t find it in you to mind it being taken off you in that moment.

“news to me too” he offered, he looked just as uncomfortable as you were when under all their attention.

Axe, butch and mutt were all still eating, not really taking much attention away from their burgers. Milord looked uncomfortable that the situation was uncomfortable, but still cleared his throat to speak “at least she is humble. I gave her plenty of times to brag about her previous work experience. I was under the impression that she didn’t have much but was well trained.”

You didn’t really appreciate the way he said, ‘well trained’, it was just A little off. But technically you were trained under your supervisors for A little while. “well, I mean… you can find all the people I’ve worked with that wanted to be on my references list, in my profile” you offered, remembering the last time you updated your files to turn in, hoping for jump on A promotion or raise of some sort.

“…” milord’s eyelights straightened as they turned to sans “YOU-… you told me you selected the best integration therapist in Ebot city.”

“I did, you already know that”

“HOW- how did you know this human was the best if you hadn’t read her profile thoroughly?” despite Milords discomfort in the tension earlier, he seemed stone-faced fine now that he was the cause of it doubling. Mutt seemed heavily displeased, by the way he put his food down, and constricted his eyelights. Axe and butch didn’t looks so happy either.

“THAT’S ENOUGH.” You were relived, but the demanding voice coming from your left still made the hairs on your arms rise

“EDGE IS RIGHT. WE ARE MAKING MS.Y/N UNCOMFORTABLE WITH OUR POOR GUEST MANNERS! OUR HUMAN FRIEND HAS DONE MORE THAT WHAT SHE IS REQUIRED TO HELP US- AND I WILL NOT ALLOW ANY OF YOU TO DISRESPECT HER.” Papyrus crossed his arms, but unlike Edge’s intimidating stance, it held one of finalization. A swell of affection came from your soul with his vow to defend your honor.

Milord shifted in his seat, you took the opportunity to defuse the situation. “thanks you guys, but its okay, really! I just don’t like to be bragged on, its good that milord is worried about the reliability of someone he’s employed!” you saw him breath out and relax. He still cringed at the end, despite your defusing of the tension.

Red shrugged, putting his elbow on the table so he could rest his chin on his hand. “ion’ know what th’ uptight prick ‘s on ‘bout, I think dollface s’ pretty nice.”

“…me too…” butch quietly tossed in his vote of confidence in you.

“yeah, whats wrong with doll, milord?” stretch finally piped up

Milord huffed “I NEVER- I never said anything was wrong with ms.Y/n. I simply asked Sans why he didn’t know anything about the human he employed- he didn’t even know that she is Papyrus’s friend.” He crossed his arms, turning his nose away from the group. You started to wonder if his voice cracked from how often he spent silent. If he was selective mute, and he had been convinced by some ableist integration officers he must speak to be accepted as a citizen?

It was only now you noticed that Mutt, Sans, Axe, Butch and Blue have disappeared from the table. Leaving you, Edge, Red, Papyrus, Stretch and Milord. You sweat dropped, anyone with A brain would, but they really just dipped like that?

“anyyywho, talking about me like I’m not here aside. I’m going to clean up, so you guys can do whatever you do when you’re at home.” You stood and started gathering empty plates, feeling presences disappear when you turned your back. You continued carrying dishes to the sink, noticing that Stretch was still hanging at the table. You have him A small grin while you continued to gather up cups. It was hard to not feel so fuzzy with the nice comments of enjoyment you got for your cooking, and how nice it was- even after the small fuss.

Eventually after watching you with A lazy grin and making A few jokes with you, got up and put his hand on your shoulder. He jolted, at his own bringing of physical contact. “thanks, doll” you grinned A little brighter, flushing A bit- You felt honestly appreciated.

“thank you, I couldn’t have gotten through it without you, Stretch” it was true, too. You noticed how he had defused certain comments from causing A brawl in your home, and how he defended your case when you were there, and when you had left the brothers to their own devices. You really appreciated it.

\- You also notice how he looks like A construction sign’s lights- he was GLOWING orange right now. “uh, are you okay?” you put A hand on the side of his forehead, checking for A fever, huh, he wasn’t hot. He sputtered, before squeaking, “wow” as he blipped from existence with nothing but burnt orange magic following about the air and the crisp smell of sweet magic, it was closer enough to smell, but didn’t linger long enough for you to figure out what it smelled like. You did smell cigarette smoke on his hoodie though- and wondered if he was A stress smoker, or just A smoker. You don’t recall seeing him smoke once all day, you just hope he wouldn’t in the house- that would be difficult to explain later if the smell settled into the wrong places.

You shrugged off his behavior, going back to rinsing the dishes off, placing them in the other side so you could easily place them in the dishwasher. It had be A while since you used the dishwasher, normally you didn’t have enough dishes that would justify it, but tonight you probably had more than A full load.

“MY DEAR…” you jumped, dropping the brush you had in one hand back into the sink, but clutching to the plate for dear life as you spun-

It was Milord. Fucking hell, give you A warning next time, please.

You grinned weakly “h… hey there Captain, when’d you sneak up on me?” he grimaced, taking the plate from you as he gathered up some of the others from the rinsed side of the sink, carrying them to the dishwasher. He looked at it odd, before you started to explain. “heavy dishes like silverware, plate, bowls, and pots go in the bottom, machine washable plastics and cups go on the top” he nodded, starting to put them away. “thank you for helping, but you really don’t have to, I’m good at cleaning on my own! I’m sure you have had A long day.” He grinned at you, before it faltered slightly as he cleared his throat again. You wondered how he did that, but you were going to just settle with the papyrus answer; ‘magic!’

“I am more than capable of assisting. And… I wanted to apologize for how I have been treating you today.” He grimaced fully. Your eyes blew out, threatening the size of the dinner plate you had paused in rising. “I greeted you patronizingly, hoping to disarm you from thinking you could manipulate us. I also spoke illy of your professionalism… in your home…at your dinner table. Over the dinner you fixed and served to me and my… family.” he slowly, approaching you gently, as he trapped you between him and the sink, “it was the furthest from appropriate for me. I genuinely apologize, Ms.Y/n, that is no way to treat ones sou-” you were confused when he promptly cut off his own spiel, taking the plate you had in your hand.

Then you noticed it, the smell of dissipating magic as milord stepped away from you, placing the last dish and dawn dish-pod you had sat on the counter already, into the little door. For A man who was confused about the machine no more than 30 minutes ago- he knew how it worked well enough. “d’int know he had it in ‘im to help anyone but himself” the intruding presence grumbled.

Oh, it was Red. You took notice that milord must like to save face around more than one person. “I convinced him to give me A hand, since I made such A killer meal.” You grinned, noticing the tension leave both of their shoulders at your cover story. I mean, he did say something nice about your cooking- Even if some of the brothers helped you out plenty.

You flinched A little when a, weirdly dry- for having just handled wet dishes, gloved hand patted your head. You would have felt patronized again, if it weren’t for the _tiny_ spark of intent you felt behind it. You felt A little fuzzy, from the small ‘cared for’ feeling Milord just sent trough your nerves, reverberating into your soul- it was barely enough to notice he had shared intent with you at all, but that particular feeling he shared- it went right to your soul’s soft spot like A straight double shot of vodka.

You, actually, probably needed to talk to A therapist- not be one. You stickered at yourself. That’s right, Y/n, laugh at the pain so it can’t hurt you in the present moment.

You were so in your head and heart from the small zap of something that is exactly what your soul screamed for- that you missed the feral snarl (Red) and unhinged hiss (Milord) exchanged.

“I WILL BE SEEING YOU LATER, DEAREST.” Milord addressed you with his departure, giving you enough time to look in wonder at the space he was in less than A second ago.

“wow” you huffed out, in awe “so cool”

Wait- what was up with the voice?

“th’ fuck you mean ‘so cool’, that short prick do som’ to you, Sweetheart?” Red looked ready to seek milord out himself if you didn’t answer this right.

You raised an eyebrow at him “can you teleport to?”

“ah. Tha’s right, humans aint used to that kind’a shit.” He rolled his eyelights in… ease? You couldn’t tell, it was an odd reaction that mixed with his body language. “yea’ we can all void-step, sweetheart.” His grin turned into one that screamed ‘chaos king’. “wanna try?”

Now that. That made you feel all giddy- like A little kid. “Would you?!” you felt the hope sparkle in your eyes “yes please!”

He turned red, making you worry he was going to blip out of existence like Stretch did. “heh. You gotta hold on tight, sweetheart” he held out his arm, allowing you to shyly, nestle into the side of his large coat. “where’d ya’ wanna go?” you could smell him A little more clearly now, and feel his ribs reverberate when he spoke.

“where do _you_ normally go?” you had A feeling, that probably wasn’t the right answer, because you could feel the sharp grin from your place under his arm as it tightened around you securely.

“damn, if I knew ya’ wanted to get inta bed with me, I wouldn’t ‘ave asked, dollface” you squealed as the feeling he called ‘void-stepping’ overcame you. clinging as tightly to Red as you could, you felt the gravity in your body shift to fast between planes of existence that you didn’t know when it was falling, floating or dematerializing.

Then- you were definitely falling.

As soon as your feet hit the floor, your knees turned to jelly, and you toppled right onto the mattress- dragging Red into stumbling with you. He didn’t fight it as he bounced comfortably right beside you on the bed. Even stretching out A bit as he relaxed into what you would call his temporary room. He let you rake in the way the celling spun, and your stomach churned in indescribable ways, neon colors and other weird things bending out of the shapes in your line of sight.

“holy...” You wondered if this is what shrooms made you feel like.

“as fun as you thought it’d be?”

“nah, this feeling sucks, but it was cool as shit” you tried to sit up, but the most you could to was lift A little bit, before plopping back down.

“it gets better th’ more ya’ do it, but ya’ took ‘t like A champ.” He snickered “cant believe I snatched tha’ humans V(h)-card.” you barely caught that innuendo while your Delirious brain was memorizing of the way his accent rolled around his tongue. – you knew he had one, papyrus had shown you his after you questioned A skeletons way of drinking hot cocoa. And you saw the little show he made of it earlier, before and at dinner.

“you nasty-!” you flung up with A start, feeling the room spin the opposite direction made you sway A bit. “tats gross.” He laughed A lot harder at your swaying, unaware of how much you were swaying around as you stood. Shaking your head as if that would clear out your vision. “could have just asked if you wanted an escort to your room.” you playfully huffed, making your way to the door A little faster than before, now that you could see straight. “its late, so I’m probably going to turn in, goodnight Red!”

He grinned dopily at the ceiling, giving you a little wave “yeah, g’night Sweetheart”

After Shutting the door easily, You hustled to the stairs, going up another floor. You were on A mission to get the study in record time, it wasn’t very late yet, but you needed all the files you had previously pulled up. You wanted to get A head start on ordering things for thanksgiving dinner tomorrow- on such short notice it would take A rather large chunk out of your profit this month, but you didn’t mind, after your paycheck came in for working for the skeleton brothers, you would still have enough to pay off your bills. You also wanted to get A head start on overviewing property’s that looked like something the brothers seemed to be looking for.

Finally, you made it into the study, you wasted no time pulling they key to your file cabinet out from under A picture on your bookshelf. You flipped trough the endless files, pulling out the one you very professionally wrote ‘skelebros’ on the label of. You tucked the file under your arm before closing, locking the top drawer, then going to the bottom drawer, unlocking it then flipping trough those files to find the file you labeled ‘finances’, tucking that one under the same arm. You closed and locked it, tucking the key in your pocket.

Now, before you get to work, you wanted to put in A online food order for your thanksgiving meal items. monster food would be easiest to preorder for pickup online.

You spun on your heel, turning to make your way to the computer desks… only to see the one that was obviously never used, occupied. by A skeleton, who was jamming at it with A Philips screwdriver, he had A hammer, and A pair of needle nose pliers. Where he had gotten them, you don’t know, you lost the key to the toolbox after you had to replace the inner-tube on your bike a few months back.

He looked at you, you looked at him, he looked at you, looking at him, and you looked at him looking at you. He dropped the screwdriver in A panic, backing up against the wall, his brain catching up with him.

“i- I am so sorry! I didn’t even think about it being your computer before I just started upgrading it, I didn’t mean to tear your stuff apart, I swear I didn’t! it just looked so much like my old computer- so when it didn’t work- I thought – ‘ah shit, its broke again’ not ‘oh no, I should tell ms.y/n her computer wont work and ask if I can fix it before my dumbass just starts taking the damned thing apart-!!”

Ms.y/n? what happened to his playful nicknames?

you put your hand up, cutting off his rambling.

“chill. It was just there for aesthetic more than anything anyway, just don’t touch my baby-“ you pointed to the other desktop “with that thing” you motioned to the screwdriver. Rubbing his arm and flushing A light lavender, he chuckled awkwardly.

You took his sudden change, as that he too- like his brother, must like to save face… in his own way, around others. “go about whatever you were violating the poor computer for, im just here to place an online order.” You explained as you settled yourself at the other desk, placing the files to the side.

As you turned on the tech, watching it hum to life, you listened to the sounds of Mutt deconstructing the computer behind you. Finally, the screen flashed to life, windows asking you to select one of the icons ‘guests’ or ‘Y/n’. you quickly entered the password for your locked account, opening the nearest grocery store website that carried A large selection of monster foods.

Thinking back on dinner from today, you thought of typical thanksgiving meals. Making the stuffing with A few select monster and human ingredients, and turkey instead of chicken would be easiest. mashed potatoes,

oh and monster pasta to make mac’n’cheese! you could use some basic monster ingredients in the pumpkin pie, monster rolls, and A pan of sweet potatoes with monster mega marshmallows! The monster marshmallows tasted better anyway, you had A bag of them in your snack cabinet already. Now that hyped you up A little more for the large amount of cooking you would be doing tomorrow.

You heard A loud ** _ZAP-thump-clack-crash_** “AH-! I’m sorry— shit shi-“ behind you. turning as fast as your panicked head would let you, but you saw the neon purple skeleton blip from existence as before he could finish his quiet curse… you had no idea what happened, but you could only guess that he had the shit shocked out of him. Judging from the electricity sparking around the metal screwdriver he stuck into the computers power box. He also knocked the lamp off the desk… shattering it.

All you could do was blink dumbly at the scene before you. It wasn’t A big mess, but A very very strange one. Turning back to the desk you were occupying, placing the order for pickup tomorrow at 8 in the morning. You didn’t know if you were going to have help from the boys again, so you wanted to give yourself enough time.

You also spent some time, printing out the files of your clients. You had Papyrus and Sans already printed, but you were notified A bit to late to have printed out files for Blue, Stretch, Red, Edge, Axe, Butch, Mutt and Milord too. So now you needed to print their info files out so you could turn them in with the rest of your work report. You had A feeling that after this, you would really be in the clear for best worker the company held. The thought made your soul sing A happy song, and do A lil funky dance. If that raise came your way- you would be in the clear for A while.

It took A little while to pull them up and get them sorted out into the right places of your folder. You found that they were only registered as citizens today, meaning they had only just been allowed to roam the surface less than twelve hours ago! that would have been more useful to know earlier- You would have taken them on A tour of Ebot city. Huffing, it was finalized in your mind, you would take them on A tour someday this week. Tomorrow was thanksgiving day- so it would be perfect to keep them from being overwhelmed in crowds… but… they wanted to have thanksgiving dinner, and you wouldn’t have time to do both. You would have to talk to them about it next time you were gathered. Probably breakfast would be best. Unless they don’t all get up until lunch, stars know you didn’t when you were given the chance to sleep in.

Wait- no- you shouldn’t care this much! stay on task y/n!

Your JOB is strictly to integrate them by assisting them in buying A home, cars, and helping them get A job if they so choose to all have one. God damn it all, you can’t do this, not now, you can’t start getting attached to your _clients_ just because they’ve been nice to you and!- and… and were staying at your house, calling you their human friend, giving you sweet nicknames, eating thanksgiving dinner with you… wait A minute- had you lost your mind? You’ve questioned this before—but it is really hitting you now. You’ve just met these monsters today for stars sake, sure you and papyrus are pretty close, but not close enough for him to weasel his way into using your home as A free hotel!

Okay, you knew in your soul Papyrus wouldn’t ever _weasel_ his way to have something… but still! You didn’t know that, or anything, about his family.

\-- **And** … and _HE_ was coming home soon.

… They would be out of here by the end of the month, you knew that, but it still didn’t placate your uneasy soul about having to pretend like nothing happened here while he was gone. Just you and work. That’s the only reason why you didn’t think much of it at first, it was just your _job_ … and they would fire you, ruin your perfect record at the office, and leave you without pay for your work if you didn’t situate them in A whole month. You would have them moved into the bet home you could by the end of the week. They absolutely could not stay here any longer than that.

“ ’scuse me, ms.y/n…” someone cleared their throat. It was quiet, but enough for you to snap out of your perplexed hard stare, you had no doubt the folder you had been zoned out staring at would have curled into itself and died with how harsh your gaze was. You needed to work on that face, resting bitch face was A condition you suffered from severely.

Turning A bit, dropping your fist from your chin, you noticed Mutt very much so had been electrocuted. There were blackened marks all over his hand, face, and his gold tooth was still letting out A spark or two. Oh my.

He had your broom and dustpan, filled with the broken lightbulb.

“I’m sorry for breaking your lamp…” he looked to the side, fidgeting by shifting on his feet. he was turning purple again, but it was very hard to notice with the blacked marks on his face.

Your grin was hard to hide, as you stood from the desk. You felt A little stiff- how long had you been sitting at that dumb desk for? You were lost in thought long enough for him to clean up the lamp- he still hadn’t touched the electrified screwdriver tough.

“don’t worry about it, thank you for cleaning up the glass.” Pausing, you assessed how bad his ‘burns’ were. You could see his electrocuted hand had A weird red-purple tint to the bones, some dark weird lines running along it. “come with me,” you took the dust pan and broom from him, setting them to the side, before taking his non-burnt hand.

“!!- er, uh --- w-where are we off to?”

“the bathroom, I have A medkit on the shelf.” Explaining as you took him the short trip down the hall, into the bathroom, nudging the door shut with your foot before you dropped his hand. You sat him on the toilet as he opened his jaw, before closing it again, thinking.

“thanks, darlin’, but uh…” he looked off A bit, thinking again. “I don’t think human medicine will help with this one”

Your steady face cracked A bit, A warm smile taking its place- just barley. “I have A monster med kit, Asriel and Frisk demanded I took one since they helped the fire department decorate them” you snickered at how excited the sweeties were when they showed you the stack of them they were selling at the fundraiser, offering education on monster health and safety procedures. You stopped short when he looked at you with that face, that face, god you hated that face. The face of distaste, or something disapproving. “is… is something wrong?” you felt your soul sink, but also still manage to get lodged in your throat. He snapped his head to you,

“oh! No, sorry, I blanked out for A second! Heh, trying to ignore my hand…” he trailed off A bit, looking betrayed by his own mouth.

“I was just saying I have A monster med kit, I got it from one of the schools’ educational fundraisers.” As you opened the med kit, rummaging around for what you needed, Your soul slowly settled- but also filled with worry. If his hand hurt that bad, was he really going to ignore it? Why would he do that? There, now you had the green magic infused bandage, burn cream, and the Velcro strips that would hold the wrap bandage in place while he slept tonight.

Now that you had his sleeve rolled up and were closer to his hand, it was easier to see the nicks and scratches on his bones. You thought it was just the rough texture of bone when you took his hand earlier but now that you were looking, and had your hands wiping the sut off his charred phalanges with an alcohol wipe- his bones were an odd texture, nothing like human bones. Magic, you guessed.

Now it was time to spread the burn medicine you peered up at him A bit with the small pack of it in hand, silently asking if he was okay still. He nodded A bit, staring owl eyes at you, as you started to gently rub in the gel. Your hands shook A bit, and you wrapped the middle phalange and his palm up to his wrist. The only fingers that weren’t an irritated purple-red were his thumb and pinky. He squeaked A bit when the bandage started giving off its faint green glow, the smell of healing magic fizzing around your senses A bit.

“I keep quite A few green-magic bandages. Asgore gave me A stack of them since I’m such A ditz” you snickered at yourself, gathering up everything and putting it away, appreciating that Mutt waited for you to catch up before leaving the bathroom. You couldn’t buy such things on the human market, and they were A rare occurrence on the monster market. You didn’t want to flash it about especially to the guys, but he really must have been hurting if he zoned so far out earlier, he was one of the brothers that have been on high alert all day.

“thanks for caring so much, but you really don’t have to worry about me so much, darlin” you flinch, staring at him dumbly. Damn he was good at reading you, or maybe your mom face was saying it all.

He laughed A bit, still purple. He looked off the side taking your hand again, grinning as his eyelights shined. “from your intent, darlin”

Your soul hummed A bit as you caught onto the new nickname. Then your brain caught onto what he said, and you gasped, felling embarrassed as you tugged your hand away, staring at it like it had insulted you and your mother. Your mouth was moving but you weren’t making any sounds. You didn’t know that you could share intent with anyone but your soulmate, as A human. You knew monsters could with whoever they felt A connection to, friend, family or mate- but you had always been taught by your professors that humans couldn’t share intent unless they had A soul connection to them. You flushed, knowing that you would have been blocking out sharing intent if it _were_ your soulmate, or if you _knew_ you were sharing so much with your monster friend.

“oh my gosh, I am so sorry! – hey wait A sec. ‘darlin’’?” you parroted back to him, begging for A topic change to save what little self-respect you had left as you rounded the stairs into the foyer.

“yeah, Darlin’” he seemed confident- only to falter A bit, as he scanned your face, no longer knowing exactly how you felt from the way your soul reacted now that your hand was gone from his own. “since you were carin’ so much about me after I broke your lamp… and started tinkerin’ with your computer without askin.” You flushed. Attempt at changing topic from how you so openly had fed your raw, unfiltered intent right to him without realizing; failed. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to need the guide of your intent to catch onto the fact that you didn’t want to be reminded of it. “and since you are bein such A darlin’, letting me an my- family. Stay with you.”

That made you feel A little fuzzy. These boys were really nice, maybe they weren’t much different that papyrus as you thought they might have been. They do look pretty similar… “say- I know its late, but do you like tea or coffee –“

“STARS DAMN IT, YOU CRETIAN! PUT THAT DOWN!” there was A loud thud that followed the shout.

Okay, wow, maybe not.

You started walking again, not noticing that you slowed to A stop when talking to Mutt. When you rounded into the kitchen, the sight was A strange one. Everyone in the room were doing very differently connected activities.

axe had so many marshmallows stuffed into his face that you swore they would’ve started coming out his eye sockets soon, standing on the table, expertly avoiding the spatula Milord was trying to beat him with; key word- trying. butch had an armload of clean towels from one of the bathrooms, he was haphazardly throwing them onto the floor in front of your dishwasher. not even bothering to unfold some of them, as the washer was going haywire- steaming, and leaking water all over the floor. Milord looked very upset, axe looked like he was going to bite the spatula in half the next time it was swung at him, and butch looked like he was going to have A heart attack… and like he wanted to go home.

“YOU CANNOT JUST EAT ALL OF EVERYTHING YOU GET YOUR UNWASHED MITS ON! GET OFF Y/N’S TABLE WITH YOUR NASTY SHOES!”

“…said we could have!” Axe was struggling to focus on words and avoid the wrath only A spatula could enforce.

“…GuYs- !!”

“YES, WE GET IT, THE DISHWASHER-!” Milord cried out, frustrated wisps of magic leaking around his gloved fist that was balled at his side as he threw the spatula at Axe instead of swinging it this time. The plastic spatula lodged itself into the wall behind him after A last second dodge from Axe. “I AM THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! I WILL NOT BE BESTED BY SOME CLOD’S WANT FOR SUGAR!”

Your mouth hung open. you couldn’t look away from the scene, but you could to watch as Mutt coughed purposefully, then backed away and blipped back to his room, giving you A pat on the shoulder as the others turned to see who wanted their attention.

The room went silent, other than the sound of the broken dishwasher, and the ruffling of axe still digging his hand into the marshmallow bag.

“…” butch looked like A he was going to curl into himself.

“…” milord was still processing you had caught them.

“…hi.” Axe grinned at you, eyelight blowing out, no longer thinned out in its glare at A spatula… because it was lodged in the wall behind him.

“h…hi guys. Uh. What. What’s going on here?” you tried, but you really couldn’t figure it out on your own.

“!- we- we were hungry so we came down here to get A snack because you told us we could, but then the machine started hissing and spraying water at us!... so… erm… so I tried to stop the water, but Milord saw Axe going through your cupboards …” butch launched into his explanation but lost his confidence halfway through.

“YES! THIS CREATAN WAS- ER.” He cleared his throat again “These two were raiding your cabinets like they own the place!” he stopped at looked to the dishwasher, grimacing “and I think I may have pushed the wrong button on your dishwasher, my dear, I am sorry about that. I will have it fixed”

“oh no, milord, that’s okay, you didn’t break I-” your words fall on deaf ears. Or well, that’s what you would call yours with the screech milord let out in calling for Mutt to come downstairs. I mean good god, if you had neighbors within 5 miles, everyone of them could have heard him. You winced. Deciding to move on. “it okay, milord, really! I said they could have anything if they got hungry- and I can fix the-“ again. You were cut off, but at least milord nodded at you to show he had heard you this time. You huffed, letting milord teleport off to find his brother somewhere.

“…hi” axe tried again, only this time more shy, now that he fully realized this wasn’t an… ideal. Situation and that he could be placed in the hotseat. Butch pitched in with A timid wave.

“hi there sweetie.” Your smile was tired and A little fed up, but at least it was genuine. Having all of the brothers in the same house at once was more than to hectic for you. “are you boys still hungry? I can make you real food if you want.”

“that’s okay, y/n” you jumped at Sans voice coming up behind you. “they just eat because they can” if looks could kill, Sans’ probably be torn to shreds and his dust shat on. The other two weren’t very happy, but you tried to appease it by saying they could keep the marshmallows- even tough that means you would have to make another trip into the store to get the marshmallows separate from your online order. The people pleaser in you was really acting out recently, and you knew why. You guessed sans must have noticed it too.

“its okay, ki-. Y/n. ill get all of them situated and take care of the dishwasher. You should probably get some rest.” You’d never been more thankful to be told it was bedtime in your life, so you gave him A quick pat of appreciation before speeding off to the stairs. You really wanted to get the hell out of there, so you missed the way he went still as A stone statue at your small affection.

After you closed your bedroom door, you couldn’t hear the rest of the house bustling anymore. A gratitude for the soundproof padding in your walls you had installed after…

after the first incident.

It also kept your room the same temperature unless you changed the thermostat. It was an overlooked luxury, but you were so glad to have it.

You plopped yourself under the covers, opening your phone to check the time and set your alarms. 11 at night huh? What A fast paced day…

“Wow-“ breathing out, snuggling into your covers a good bit. You hadn’t realized that you were so out of touch with socialization and handling large groups one-on-one. Being a social worker- that wasn’t ideal, but it never affected your work, just your personal life, so you were in the clear. Not much of a personal life you had anyway. Life sucked sometimes, but you had an oddly specific and strong feeling that everything was happening just as it was meant to, and that as soon as you were done with the skelebrothers being your clients- life would really start throwing you a bone.

Slowly drifting away into unconsciousness, you mauled over every single small detain of today- formulating a decent plan for tomorrow…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, feedback time! i posted a link to the after chapter feedback quiz on my tumblr! ill also link it here. im testing out qoutev instead of u-quiz this time.
> 
> also... i feel like i used the word 'you' a lot.... i dont know if thats just the whole 'writers see differently than readers' thing, but you let me know.  
>  dont worry, your personal pov chapters will be coming up soon, along with some bonus chapters of 'from their point of view' chapters.   
> i finally kicked my writers regrets in the ass- now im pumped up to the max for this to be a full story out there already, that would explain why i lumped most of the beginning/meeting stuff into a 13,000 word chapter...
> 
> some character design and ref sheets will be out eventually as well (on my tumblr)!
> 
> [HERE IS THE QUIZ LINK](https://www.quotev.com/quiz/13603298/After-chapter-two-home-for-lost-souls)


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